Sugar Cookies and Assassins
by The Convergence
Summary: For Ivy: Tony honestly should have been used to being alone for the holidays by now. However, it's only one year that he realizes…maybe he doesn't have to be.


**The Convergence Secret Santa 2016**

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 **For:** Ivy  
 **Character:** Tony Stark  
 **Other Characters Used:** Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton  
 **Rating:** K+  
 **Genre(s):** Friendship  
 **Message to your person:** Wishing the happiest of holidays, full of sleep and happiness and good food and good memories :)

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 **Sugar Cookies and Assassins**

 _Tony honestly should have been used to being alone for the holidays by now. However, it's only one year that he realizes…maybe he doesn't have to be._

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Tony honestly should have been used to being alone for the holidays by now. He was a grown man and simply needed to accept it. Sure, his father was gone a lot and his mother threw giant holiday parties that he didn't particularly like. Sure, he was often working too much to actually ever enjoy the holidays. But those things were in the past, and just one year he wanted to have a Hallmark holiday season with the white Christmas and eggnog and presents stacked to the ceiling.

That perfect year wouldn't be this one, though. Because sure, it was the holidays, but he was once again alone. Thor was off world, doing…godly things. Bruce was being a good human being, as always, and helping those less fortunate than himself. Pepper had a major meeting in Los Angeles and had tasked him with holding down the fort, which he of course couldn't say no to. Then Fury had sent Natasha, Steve, and Clint on a stealth mission, which Tony was apparently "not quiet enough" for.

So, that was what led to him welding two pieces of metal together late on Christmas Eve, with some rock music blaring in the workshop and his robots keeping him company. Not that he was complaining or anything, he would never admit that. Would it have been…preferable to have some company on Christmas? Sure, but then again there was always next year. Or the one after that. Or the countless years to follow. So sure, Tony was alone this Christmas, but he just hoped that it would be one of the last times that it happened.

"Hey, Dum-E, turn it up," Tony said, shaking himself away from his own thoughts, another thing that got too loud when he was alone. The robot obliged, cranking the music up, which Tony bopped his head to slightly and watched the sparks fly across the metal.

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Was it morning? Tony honestly had no idea, he just knew that when he had to start rubbing his hand over his face to stay awake, it was probably time to call it quits. He got up from his project and jotted down a few notes about what to change after he got a few hour's sleep and powered down the workspace.

The journey to the elevator was as uneventful as ever, and the thought vaguely crossed his mind of making some sugar cookies or…something, but maybe when he wasn't quite to tired.

He pressed the button for the communal floor, having left his other notepad on the kitchen table. The elevator doors closed and within a minute he was walking out onto the quiet floor.

Or…the once quiet floor. It took a few minutes for his tired mind to catch up, but it was in fact Christmas music that he was hearing upon listening in. As a matter of fact, the communal had been attacked by a mini Christmas bomb.

A few thin strands of lights were hung up above the doors and fireplace, a tiny tree with more lights sat in the corner and hell, there were even stockings hung up with all the team member's names on them.

"I'm telling you, I can literally not find any others!"

"Stark has all the toys in the world and he doesn't own proper ornaments? Chalk that up to the list of things that don't make sense."

The common bantering immediately made Tony smile, and knew he must look like an idiot when Steve, Nat, and Clint came out of the hallway, all carrying something holiday related.

"No ornaments, Tony, really?" Natasha asked with a smirk as she passed by him, completely ignoring that fact that they were supposed to be on a mission halfway across the world, not due back for a few more days.

"No real…reason to until recently," was his explanation as Clint rolled his eyes and Steve simply smiled at the inventor.

Clint put down his small box and began placing tinsel on the edges of the kitchen counter. "Lame excuse," he joked.

Steve seemed to be the only one that caught onto Tony's confusion, chuckling as he watched the two master assassins set up Christmas decor all over the floor. "Turns out our guy was a few days early, which bumped up plans. Everything went fine, and Fury sent us home for the holidays," was his short explanation. Tony would surely be hearing of their assassin exploits later in the week.

"And he gave us a mini tree as a thank-you," Clint called from the other side of the room, where he was helping Natasha put up a 'Happy Holidays!' banner.

"And you couldn't have called first? I could have helped you guys set up!" Tony protested.

"Ever heard of a Christmas miracle?" was Natasha's reply, gesturing to herself, Steve, and Clint, who waved a bit and laughed. "We didn't have time to grab presents. I wanted to bring back a piece of exploded building, but Steve advised against it."

Steve rolled his eyes a bit at Natasha's sarcastic sense of humor. They all looked a bit more tired than usual, but Tony himself was not exempt from that club. Any day of the week he would take a tired team over no team at all. Or in this case, half a team. Next year, he would make a point of keeping everyone together for at least one day.

"Nah, we've got all the presents and toys we need," Tony said, shrugging in response.

He heard Clint snickering off to the side as he loudly whispered to Natasha, "he got soft while we were gone."

"Shut up, Legolas."

"You're on to talk, Tin Man."

"Well, you're both acting like five year olds," Steve chimed in with a smile.

Natasha elbowed him lightly as she passed by to grab something from the kitchen. "Thanks, grandpa. Think you could help us hang stuff up? If your knees don't give out, that is."

Steve shook his head and sighed, but a smirk was stuck on his face. "Coming, coming."

In five minutes, Tony was directing them towards centering the banner, making sure it was just right as Clint jokingly complained about his arms hurting. They all banded together to make sugar cookies, which were done by the time the sun was setting on Christmas. Later in the evening as they all bantered back and forth about which classic movie to watch while passing popcorn and candy, Tony realized that maybe it was okay to not want to be alone for Christmas.

Being alone was boring, especially during the holidays. He had done enough of that during his life. As he watched his friends, Clint tossing pieces of popcorn at Steve from across the room as Natasha called him out for being a child, Tony made a mental reminder to send official Christmas get-together invitations next year to the six most important people in his life.

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 **Disclaimer:** The Convergence Roleplay and any themes related to it belong to Rhya and Lena (links on profile). All OC's belong to their respective creators, all Canon Characters belong to their respective franchises and all credit for the fic itself goes to the Santa who wrote it.

 **The Convergence Roleplay:** Trapped in a new world, with no way out. Characters from 19 different worlds have been brought together and must struggle in a world that constantly creates more mysteries than it solves. With no new answers ever coming to light, they must start to wonder - is there really a reason why they're here?

The Convergence is a multifandom roleplay, featuring Supernatural, Doctor Who, Sherlock, Harry Potter, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Vampire Diaries, The Hunger Games, Merlin, Once Upon a Time, Divergence, Fox MCU, Star Trek, The Maze Runner, the DC Extended and Television Universes, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, The Mortal Instruments and House M.D and the various spin-offs. Check out the link in the profile for more information!


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